Air Passengers Drop By 26.8% In April, 2021 Due To Coronavirus

The ongoing surge of novel coronavirus hits the Indian Aviation Sector very badly as many states have imposed lockdown to break the chain of transmission with that around 57.25 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in April, which is 26.8 percent lower than 78.22 lakh who travelled in March, Indian aviation regulator DGCA said on Tuesday.

As per Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), 78.27 lakh people traveled by air within the country in February. 

Air India, GoAir, Vistara, and AirAsia India carried 6.85 lakh, 5.47 lakh, 3.11 lakh, and 3.55 lakh passengers, respectively in April, it showed.

And IndiGo carried 30.83 lakh passengers in April, a 53.9 percent share of the total domestic market, SpiceJet flew 7.05 lakh passengers, which is a 12.3 percent share of the market, according to data shared by the DGCA.

Aviation Ministry said, the occupancy rate or load factor of the six major Indian airlines was between 52 percent and 70.8 percent in April.

DGCA said, "The passenger load factor in the month of April 2021 has shown decreasing trend compared to previous month due to end of the vacation period,"

The occupancy rate at SpiceJet was 70.8 per cent in April, the regulator noted.

And occupancy rates for IndiGo, Vistara, GoAir, Air India and AirAsia India were 58.7 per cent, 54.6 per cent, 65.7 per cent, 52 per cent and 64 per cent, respectively, according to the DGCA.

India restarted domestic passenger flights on May 25 last year after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus surge.

Airlines in India are allowed to operate a maximum of 80 percent of their normal domestic flights.

The DGCA data mentioned that in April, GoAir had the best on-time performance of 98.1 per cent at four metro airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. IndiGo and Vistara were at number two and three positions at these four airports in April with 97.4 per cent and 95.3 per cent on-time performance, respectively, the regulator said.

Aviation sector has been badly impacted due to the travel restrictions imposed in India and other countries in view of the coronavirus pandemic. All airlines in India have taken cost-cutting measures such as pay cuts of employees, leaves without pay and layoffs in order to tide over the pendamic.

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